1-1     By:  Goodman (Senate Sponsor - Harris)                H.B. No. 3271
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 19, 1999;
 1-3     April 20, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Jurisprudence; May 4, 1999, reported favorably by the following
 1-5     vote:  Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 4, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the coordination of child support collection and parent
 1-9     location functions of certain state agencies.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 231,  Family Code, is
1-12     amended by adding Section 231.011 to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 231.011.  COOPERATION WITH DEPARTMENT OF PROTECTIVE AND
1-14     REGULATORY SERVICES.  (a)  In this section, "department" means the
1-15     Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.
1-16           (b)  To the extent possible, the Title IV-D agency shall:
1-17                 (1)  provide to the department access to all of the
1-18     Title IV-D agency's available child support locating resources;
1-19                 (2)  allow the department to use the Title IV-D
1-20     agency's child support enforcement system to track child support
1-21     payments and to have access to the agency's management reports that
1-22     show payments made;
1-23                 (3)  make reports on Title IV-E, Social Security Act
1-24     (42 U.S.C. Section 670 et seq.), foster care collections available
1-25     to the department in a timely manner; and
1-26                 (4)  work with the department to obtain child support
1-27     payments for protective services cases in which the department is
1-28     responsible for providing care for children under temporary and
1-29     final orders.
1-30           SECTION 2.  Subchapter D, Chapter 231, Family Code, is
1-31     amended by adding Section 231.310 to read as follows:
1-32           Sec. 231.310.  INTERAGENCY WORK GROUP.  (a) The Title IV-D
1-33     agency shall establish a work group to facilitate the sharing of
1-34     data and resources to locate parents and relatives of children
1-35     served by the Title IV-D agency and other health and human services
1-36     agencies.
1-37           (b)  The work group shall consist of representatives from the
1-38     Title IV-D agency, the Department of Protective and Regulatory
1-39     Services, the Texas Department of Human Services, the Texas
1-40     Department of Health, the Texas Workforce Commission, the Texas
1-41     Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rehabilitation Commission,
1-42     and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
1-43           (c)  The commissioner of human services or the commissioner's
1-44     designee shall serve as the work group's presiding officer.
1-45           (d)  The work group shall evaluate the procedures used by
1-46     each agency in the work group to locate parents and relatives of
1-47     children served by the agencies and develop a mechanism to ensure
1-48     that each agency in the work group, or any private contractor
1-49     performing location functions for an agency, is able to access
1-50     information in the database of each other agency without paying a
1-51     fee.
1-52           (e)  The work group shall evaluate opportunities for using
1-53     outside contracting and coordinating efforts with other community
1-54     resources.
1-55           (f)  To the extent possible, the Department of Protective and
1-56     Regulatory Services and the Title IV-D agency shall use outside
1-57     contractors and community resources to locate parents in child
1-58     protection and child support cases.
1-59           SECTION 3.  Subchapter C, Chapter 264, Family Code, is
1-60     amended by adding Section 264.208 to read as follows:
1-61           Sec. 264.208.  LOCATION OF PARENTS. (a) The department shall
1-62     create a division staffed by personnel trained in locating parents
1-63     and relatives of children throughout the state.
1-64           (b)  The department shall use outside contractors and
 2-1     volunteer resources to the extent feasible to perform its
 2-2     responsibilities under this section.
 2-3           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-4           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-5     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-6     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-7     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-8     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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